Research pertaining to David
S.
Adams'
“Sociological and Individualistic Explanations for Human
Behavior”

and the film “Quiet Rage: the Stanford Prison Study”

Taken from “Assessing Strategies for Teaching
Some Key Sociological Understandings”byCaroline Hodges
Persell,Department of Sociology,New YorkUniversityandAntonio E. Mateiro,Department of Sociology,New YorkUniversity

and
UniversityCollege
of
London

November 2007

Understanding the Social

The most
frequently mentioned teaching goal of sociological leaders was having students
understand the “social” part of sociology.This refers to the importance of being able to understand and explain
behavior in terms of social factors that go beyond an individual’s
psychological attributes. For a
thoughtful discussion of one strategy for teaching this understanding, see
Hanson (2002).

The session began
with a brief introduction and students then wrote responses to the question,
“Why do you think people commit suicide?”Following this, state by state suicide data were distributed, and
students were asked to write a response to a second question, “Why do you think
suicide rates vary by states?” followed by discussion of their responses.This teaching strategy is very usefully
discussed in greater detail by Adams
(1993).

After discussion,
the film, Quiet Rage: The
Stanford Prison Experiment, was introduced and the following questions were
discussed: “How do you think the participants playing the role of prisoner will
act?” “Why do you think they will act that way?” “How do you think the
participants playing the role of guard will act?” and “Why do you think they
will act that way?”Then the film was
shown, followed by a discussion of the questions “Why do you think the
prisoners and guards behaved the way they did in the Zimbardo simulated prison
experiment?” “Suppose all the people who were randomly assigned to be guards
had instead been assigned to be prisoners, and vice versa.How do you think that would have affected the
behavior of the people?Do you think
they would have behaved differently?” “Why or why not?”Returning to the suicide data, students were
asked “Why do you think the rates vary by states?”The session ended with a series of moderator
questions regarding participant responses to the materials and exercises.

Comparing student
responses before and after seeing the film suggests that the film was effective
in teaching students to emphasize social factors over psychological ones (Table
1, Part A).When initially asked to give
possible reasons as to why people would commit suicide, responses tended to
emphasize psychological factors: “I think people commit suicide because of a
combination of overwhelming pressures and sadness possibly coupled with some
sort of emotional/psychological issue that leads them to this sort of drastic
decision, generally after some sort of tragic experience in their lives”
(Maria).This changed somewhat when
presented with state level suicide data, but more participants changed their
views after seeing the film: “I think it goes back to feeling isolated, trapped
in rural areas.People can get around
easily in a city and do things on their own, with public transportation, etc.This is less true in rural areas”
(Patricia).They had begun to consider
contextual factors that might be related to suicides.

This change is
also evident from comparing students’ expectations before the video and their
responses after seeing what actually happened (Table 1, Part B).Those who had not previously read about the
Zimbardo experiment did not believe that the participants would act differently
in their roles as prisoners and guards: “There should be no difference between
prisoners and guards.Since the
assignments [of prisoner/guard roles] were arbitrary, why should there be a
difference?” (Jeff).Afterwards, all of
the students’ responses noted how real the experiment seemed, and how real the
situation became: “People can become dehumanizing just to maintain their status
as a guard.It’s pretty astounding how
people can change like that” (Jeff).

In the focus
group, several students noted the advantage of seeing a video of the Zimbardo
experiment over just reading an article about it (such as Haney, Banks and
Zimbardo 1973).Several noted how it
made the experiment much more believable, and more real: “I think actually
being able to see what happened in the experiment.I’ve read the article before.When I read it, it was less believable.Actually seeing it was much more effective”
(Maria).Another said, “I liked the
video ‘cause you hear about the experiment.It means a lot to actually see it” (Patricia).

Clearly the film
helped to convey to students how powerfully social situations can affect the
behavior of individuals.The variations
in suicide rates by states also helped them to go beyond thinking only of
individual explanations for suicide and consider possible variations in social
contexts.Using this film and presenting
suicide data by states are methods that could be used in classes of almost any
size.In mass classes, students could
break into pairs or small groups to discuss some of the questions raised in the
focus group.

Table 1 The
Importance of Social Factors

Part
A:Using Suicide Rates by State

Before Handing Out Suicide Data – Q1) Why do you think people commit
suicide?(After handing out suicide
data by state) Q2) Looking at this table, why do you think suicide rates vary
by states?

After Seeing Data and Video - “Think back to the suicide data.Any new ideas or hypotheses about why
suicide rates might vary by state?”

Jeff

Q1) People commit suicide for
several reasons.One is because they
may feel unworthy to continue living within a society that has required or
demanded a certain way of [living] that they believe they can’t uphold.Q2) In states such as Wyoming or Montana,
the suicide rates may be very high as a result of a lack of purpose or an
individual’s personal sense that they have no significance or reason to live.It’s better in New
York or Massachusetts
because people in these metropolitan areas are immersed in the American way
of capitalism.

“I think it’s contradictory.When you think of NYC, you think of rude,
insensitive people.You’d think the
suicide rate would be higher.”

Maria

Q1) I think people commit suicide
because of a combination of overwhelming pressures and sadness possibly
coupled with some sort of emotional/psychological issue that leads them to
this sort of drastic decision, generally after some sort of tragic experience
in their lives. Q2) Perhaps this has something to do with the number of
opportunities in each state, or maybe other resources/availability of help to
those considering suicide.It could
also have something to do with the states’ ability to help people out of bad
situations, the views of poverty, etc.

“NY is more open to new
ideas.Small towns are more closed
off.”

Anthony

Q1) I think people commit suicide
because they are fed up with the world.A person commits suicide because they don’t feel they are loved or
wanted in the world. Q2) Suicide rates vary by state because of the different
cultures in the USA.There are more suicides in more rural
states which might mean that such rural settings attract deaths by suicide.

“This makes me think of the
recent student suicides at NYU.In
cities, when someone comes who is, for example, the best artist in their
small town, then they come here and they’re just another artist.”

Patricia

Q1) I believe that people commit
suicide because they are depressed or have no desire to continue life.Another reason could be to avoid jail or
the law (for example when murderers kill themselves,
or inmates).A third reason could be
loneliness, like if one has no friends or family to engage in companionship.
Q2) I believe that suicide rates vary by state because the highest
occurrences are in states that have sparser populations without major,
influential cities.This
results in fewer opportunities, perhaps lower paying jobs, and
possibly a feeling of being “stuck”.In places such as New York
and D.C. there are many opportunities to meet new people and increase job
ranking.

“I think it goes back to feeling
isolated, trapped in rural areas.People can get around easily in a city and do things on their own,
with public transportation, etc.This
is less true in rural areas.”

Kevin

Q1) I think people commit suicide
because of outstanding societal pressures.The pressures of society make it too overwhelming for a person to live
their life.Life becomes unmanageable.This goes along with the idea of when
someone commits suicide because they cheated on their spouse or visa-versa (sic).The pressure for things to be normal and function in society is
therefore disrupted and suicide is an easy escape, as an ultimate way to
eliminate these pressures.Q2) Some
ways to explain the differing suicide rates w/in the regions of the US.We must look at both religion and
wealth.States in the North East and New England nearly all appear with the lowest rates
suggesting maybe that the average incomes for these states may eliminate some
societal pressures.The highest rates
occur in poorer areas.Religion may
also play a part – a conservative restrictive state’s ideology may lend to extreme
pressures to conform.

“I think this situation is more
restrictive for people in the more suicide prone states.”

Part
B: Using the Film, Quiet Rage, on
the Zimbardo Prisoner and Guard Experiment

Before Video – Qs: “How do you think prisoners will act in the prison
experiment?” “And the guards?”

[Several students mentioned
that they had read about the experiment or seen the film before, so that
might have affected their responses.]

After Video – Q1)“Why do you think the guards
behaved the way they did?”Q2)“What is the most important idea you get from the film?”

Jeff

“There should be no difference
between prisoners and guards.Since
the assignments [of prisoner/guard roles] were arbitrary, why should there be
a difference?”

1) “The length of time also had
something to do with it.If it were
just one day, it wouldn’t have been that real, but it went on so long that it
just got so real.”2) “People can
become dehumanizing just to maintain their status as a guard.It’s pretty astounding how people can
change like that.”

Maria

1) “I think too that once the
prisoner told them they weren’t allowed to go home that made it a lot more
real.”2) “I agree.But, if you see this as a mock experiment,
what effects would 20 years in prison have?” “You see someone doing something
evil, but they have another side.”

Anthony

“I agree [with Patricia].It just seems very arbitrary.”

1) “[The experimenters] made it
so real to everyone.Did Zimbardo tell
the guards what to do?”“It seemed so
real, so it was real to me.2) “I
kinda relate this to the Milgram experiment in that people submit to another
authority.”

Patricia

“I think the prisoners would be
angry cause they could’ve been guards and they
would’ve questioned the legitimacy of the guard’s authority.”

1)“I think they felt really
powerful being given that role and they played off of each other and the
prisoners.”2)“When guards go home, particularly the one
who was really into it, does he still feel the same power when he goes home?It could be dangerous to carry that home
with you.”“Another thing about
switching roles – the former prisoner [who consulted for the experiment] said
he was acting like his own parole officer when he was put in the role of the
parole board [member] for the experiment.”

Kevin

“They’ll take on the assigned
roles of prisoners/guards.”

1) “I think it’s just that they
conformed to what they were told.The
guards put pressure on the prisoners, and Zimbardo told the guards what to
do.”2) “Everyone basically conformed.This says something about the population as
a whole.”